"Corbyn was no communist spy."

That statements
by agent Ján Sarkocy about Jeremy Corbyn’s intentional cooperation with the
Czechoslovak secret service (StB) are a hoax, receives confirmation from the Sarkocy documents in the Czech Security Services Archive.

Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, at the Houses of Parliament with members of the Birmingham Six campaign, March 28, 1990. Press Association Archive. All rights reserved.An affair
concerning the alleged cooperation of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with
the Czechoslovak secret service (StB) has recently set the media in full cry. The
uproar was triggered by gossip coming from a Slovak ex-agent, Ján Sarkocy, who
was active in London in the late 80s, during which time he met with Corbyn. Sarkocy claims
that Corbyn deliberately passed information to the Czech StB, and even “got cash” for it.
But we are in possession of material that proves the opposite: Ján Sarkocy’s personal
file at the Security Services Archive in Prague (file of cadre member reg. no.
30505). It shows that Sarkocy is lying, and that what we seem to be dealing
with is an effort to discredit one of the most notable left-wing politicians of
the day.

Meetings with Corbyn

According
to Sarkocy, Corbyn, a member of parliament at the time, was a frequent caller
with agents from the East. He was supposedly recruited “under the protection of
Russia” and gave the Cold War enemy sensitive information in exchange for
money. But the Security Services Archive holds documents that map Sarkocy’s own
activities during his period at the Czechoslovak Embassy in London between 1986
and 1989. We can certainly speculate on whether everything in the file is
absolutely true, or whether some things are missing. But even so, the document
seems decisive in many regards. It certainly does not provide evidence that
Corbyn was a spy or a “traitor”.

The media
claim that Sarkocy (a.k.a. “Dymič”) met Corbyn three times altogether, but that
there might have been one or two additional meetings. Sarkocy’s file contains a
detailed list of his activities in Britain, which included several alleged
meetings with Corbyn (abbreviated to “COB” in the file): 25 Nov 1986, 8 Apr
1987, 3 Jul 1987, 22 Oct 1987 and 19 Sep 1988. However, there is no mention of
any sensitive information or willing cooperation. Sarkocy had others for those
purposes, as his file shows, including individuals from the wider circle of the
British Conservative government at the time.

Real informers and spies

In order
to better understand the “Corbyn affair”, we must look into the daily work of
the secret services. The StB kept meticulous records on their contacts based on
their importance and level of collaboration. Crucially, Corbyn is found under
the “RS” acronym in Sarkocy’s file, which denotes a category of people who did
not cooperate with the Czechoslovak intelligence agency, but who the agency was
interested in.

Czechoslovak
agents tested these people, as was the case with Corbyn. Sarkocy, it would
seem, was trying to see if cooperation might be established, while verifying
that Corbyn himself wasn’t an enemy spy. His work on Corbyn – in the spy
parlance of the times – was “under way”.

In June
1989, Sarkocy had to leave his British post early, as he and other
Czechoslovaks were deported, most probably in connection with the defection of
the agent Vlastimil Ludvík, who at the end of the 1980’s went over to the
British and handed them a notable amount of information.

And so
Corbyn remained in the second-rate “RS” category forever. In other words, the
current Labour leader certainly did not boost his income with espionage.
Meanwhile, in Sarkocy’s file, we find individuals much more valuable to the
Czechoslovak secret services, who really did give information. These include an
unnamed advisor to the British government for Eastern Europe, codename “Rave”.
He was in a much more important category, “DS” (důvěrný styk; intimate
contact), and, according to the file, Sarkocy used him often.

These
facts are important for Corbyn’s case. In addition to “Rave” we find a British
Council of Churches member, codename “JAK”. He too handed over
some valuable pieces of information, according to the file, and if it weren’t
for Sarkocy’s deportation, would have also reached “DS” level. There is no
information of this sort regarding Corbyn. If our ex-spy claims that thanks to
today’s Labour leader he knew what Prime Minister Thatcher herself was having
for dinner, we should not be inclined to believe him.

Sarkocy’s failed ambitions

Perhaps
it will aid our search to consider what Sarkocy’s superiors wrote about him. He
was quite an ambitious fellow, it turns out. In 1980 he started working with
the StB in Bratislava, passed his English and Russian language exams, and was
transferred to Prague, where he was assessed as “young, capable and full of
perspective”. At the end of May 1986, he travelled to London as a first
lieutenant. There, he was active under the false identity of the third
secretary of the Czechoslovak embassy. It is interesting to note that he was
considered an egotist and troublemaker from the very beginning. The file says
he got into conflicts with his colleagues, was jealous and enjoyed secrecy and
acting on his own. He was, apparently, “unpopular with the Czechoslovak colony”
and his behaviour led to isolation.

However,
he wanted to assert himself, and so after about two years, he received a difficult
task – that of infiltrating the British secret service. It didn’t work
out, and so Sarkocy was forced to end at the top of his career, if we can call
it that. Who knows, perhaps these are the reasons why he is trying to attract
media attention and get back a speck of his lost credit. And perhaps he wants
to pull down Corbyn in particular, as a person who – unlike him – made it to
the top.

Credible testimony from a spy?

There is
one more striking aspect to the “Corbyn affair”: the trust placed in gossip
from an ex-StB operative. For decades, Czechs have been told that former StB
agents were the worst kind of vile riff-raff, never to be taken seriously. But with
Corbyn, it’s suddenly all different. A former member of State Security is
considered an “authority” with the ability to make the ground shake beneath the
popular Labour politician’s feet.

All that
needed to be done was to fact-check Sarkocy’s claims in the archive before
letting the “Czech sensation” out into the world. The British Conservatives and
the tabloid press have, in the meantime, put their
hysterical circus in motion, spreading vitriol all round. Corbyn has
been labelled a “traitor”, Theresa May demands an explanation and many decry
and amplify his “evil” intentions.

After
studying Ján Sarkocy’s personal file, however, we can confirm the position of
the director of the Security Services Archive, Světlana
Ptáčníková: Corbyn was no communist spy. Perhaps he was naive.
Perhaps he was angry at the British government for its colonial past, and at
Prime Minister Thatcher, who had declared war on trade unions. And as someone
whose wife was from Chile, where Pinochet’s putsch had taken place, he knew the
kind of dirt the US had on their hands, in Latin America and elsewhere in the
Third World.

These
reasons might have contributed to Corbyn’s disenchantment with the Cold War,
its black-and-white view of “good and evil” and of two blocks waging an
irreconcilable battle. And so perhaps – again with a certain dose of naivety –
he observed the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev with hopes of reform in the Eastern
Bloc.

Furthermore,
Corbyn was considered Labour’s unofficial “foreign
secretary of the left”, who was used to meeting delegates from
around the world. As a result he had several candid meetings with a certain Czechoslovak
“diplomat”, who – unfortunately – turned out to be someone rather different
from what he had claimed.

This piece was translated from Czech by Ian
Mikyska, and originally
published on Political Critique on February 17, 2018.

About the author

Jaroslav Fiala is a
historian and editor-in-chief of Alarm. He publishes essays and articles on Czech and world
politics and lectures in history and political science at Charles University,
Prague. He is a Fulbright alumnus and deals with the modern history of Latin
America, United States and Europe.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.
If you have any queries about republishing please contact us.
Please check individual images for licensing details.

Recent comments

openDemocracy is an independent, non-profit global media outlet, covering world affairs, ideas and culture, which seeks to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world. We publish high-quality investigative reporting and analysis; we train and mentor journalists and wider civil society; we publish in Russian, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese and English.